A First Glimpse: Sometimes You're The Batmobile, Sometimes You're The Bat

Today, Zack Snyder, the director of Batman vs. Superman, due in 2016, tweeted what he said was the first photo of the Batmobile. Beside it is ... Batman! Or, as Snyder put it, "#Batman." Because that's what we do now instead of using our words.

Now before you get all bent out of shape that this looks at least 10 percent more unrelentingly gray than Snyder's Man Of Steel last year, keep in mind that this is no Instagram quickie created with a phone. No, this is shot with the Leica Monochrom M, which — at least when it was reviewed last summer — cost almost $8,000. So this looks this way on purpose. It's art, you know? And since we're two years out from the movie's projected opening date, it's not surprising that the relationship of this shot to a finished movie is sort of like the relationship of a pile of flour to a 12-tiered cake.

And what a gray, sad, dirty cake it could turn out to be! The Batmobile looks a bit like it's made for Battlebots, and the suit certainly seems designed to make Ben Affleck (whose split chin that does appear to be) look like he's been working out. (And crying.) The suit was originally called out for having the appearance of veins, which wouldn't be all that much weirder than the pointy little ears, after all, but which on closer inspection look like they might just be lines on the suit. Or wrinkles. Perhaps he's not caring for his clothing because he's crying.

I liked Man Of Steel better than a lot of people: I liked it until it became a demolition derby of humanity in the final act, to be honest. And my mind is more open to Batman vs. Superman than many minds are. But if I were Snyder, I think I would have found, for instance, the one shot in the movie where Batman is cruising past a burger place and been like, "See? It's going to be fun. Not just gray! Not just sooty! Fun! Gray, sooty fun!"